Of Swords and Parasols

After her mother’s death, sixteen-year-old Gemma Doyle’s family returns to England. Having lived in India all her life, Gemma often fought with her mother about being allowed to go to school in England, including the night her mother died. When she arrives in Spence Academy in London, however, her experiences are far from what she had expected. Her roommate, Ann, is a “charity case” who is looked down on by the other girls for both her status and her stutter, Gemma herself is “odd” for her foreigner status, and Gemma also has visions with a bad habit of coming true. Two of the girls who bully Gemma and Ann, Felicity and Pippa, however, soon become their friends.

Not long after her arrival, Gemma acquires the diary of Mary Dowd, a student of Spence Academy from twenty-five years before. In her diary, Mary tells of how she and her friend, Sarah, became involved in something called The Order and learned witchcraft. Soon, Gemma and her friends are following in Mary and Sarah’s footsteps, as well as becoming obsessed with the mystery of the two girls, and what happened to them. In addition, a young man named Kartik has followed Gemma from India, for reasons relating to her mother’s death.



And now those of you who were linking me to reviews while I was reading can relink me.